Abandoned airports

rsv1cox Fri Sep 10, 2021 2:57 pm

My on-line computer news feed (you have to be careful about these) featured a piece on "Abandoned Airports" this morning, so I took a look.

https://comedy.com/interesting/abandoned-airports-around-the-world?utm_campaign=co_ta_abandoned_airports_109081_ar_desktop_hybrid_mix_366658&utm_medium=109081&utm_source=1009&utm_content=co_ta_abandoned_airports_109081_ar_desktop_hybrid_mix_366658_1_1&utm_term=msn-anaheim-us&utm_group=de45bcdc57804dbb279e#tblciGiA4gLvadJ2RVxJOiansiFpAg3OSQ7A6QlIo6-rA92mgWCC25Ecokbe06sPc5YWzAQ

Names that any history buff would recognize = Stapleton, Tempelhof, Floyd Bennett Field. Living in the mountains and rolling hills of West Virginia I look on them with envy. What wonderful places to fly model airplanes.

Oldenginerod Fri Sep 10, 2021 4:56 pm

Since you brought it up, does anyone else here have an airfield named after them? I didn't think so!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAF_Boreham

(Boreham is my last name in case you didn't get it).

rsv1cox Fri Sep 10, 2021 5:28 pm

@Oldenginerod wrote:Since you brought it up, does anyone else here have an airfield named after them? I didn't think so!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAF_Boreham

(Boreham is my last name in case you didn't get it).

Royal Air Force Boreham or more simply RAF Boreham is a former Royal Air Force station in Essex, England.

Ha, my fathers first name was Essex. He hated it.......or so he said, yet he bought a 1932 Essex (part of Hudson/Terraplane) and had a number plate made with his name on it that now hangs in my garage. His friends just called him "X" or Jack.

Ya got a right ot be proud Rod. Our only claim to fame is a couple of taverns in England and a distant relative through the Arthur Vining Davis foundations.

Coxfledgling Sat Sep 11, 2021 1:20 am

About 18 years ago I went along with the localATC squadron to an air show at Fairfield.

Quite a few parents went along as well. The songs the cadets sang on the way where quite "blue" ( wild west show " and caused me to smile.

Anyways in deep England we where on a motor way and past and old RAF station that had a grafittied EE Lightening sitting on an old runway end.

I wanted to tow it home.

I wonder if it's still there ? It may have been RAF Binbrook ?

germanbuddy Sat Sep 11, 2021 2:09 am

More than 20 years ago,......
we used to fly at Sembach Airbase , 20 miles north east of Ramstein Air Base.
Perfect spot to testfly our MOKI TR 9 Diesel "F2F French-Goodyear" equipment.
But time goes on , Industrial Parks took over the spot.
BTW Berlin "Tempelhof" , see Tempelhofer Feld @ google maps
turned into Sport , recreation and dog walking area .
NO model airplanes permitted.
NOT amused Cops

will have a fine/ticket for this DAMMIT!

.

Peter
GER-1223

Kim Sat Sep 11, 2021 9:43 am

Not quite "Abandoned", but certainly a shadow of its former self:

Google Earth view of the former Army Air Corps Base at Sturgis, Kentucky.

The base was used to train the pilots of WACO CG-4 Troop Gliders, along with the pilots of the C-47s that would tow them.

This also has significant memory value for me as it was the site of the last Formula (Goodyear) pylon race to be completed by Bill Falk in his famous "Rivets", before his death later that year (1977).

Mark Boesen Sat Sep 11, 2021 9:56 am

http://www.airfields-freeman.com/

rsv1cox Sat Sep 11, 2021 11:44 am

@Mark Boesen wrote:http://www.airfields-freeman.com/

Thanks for that Mark, a gold mine.

I immediately looked up my home state of New Hampshire. Saw the airport where Alan Shepard took his first flying lesson not to far from my home town of Raymond.

Lukemiester Sat Sep 11, 2021 10:33 pm

I fly at an abandoned glider training base in Arizona. There’s so many down there. Fun to see from the air.

OVERLORD Sun Sep 12, 2021 2:36 am

Located near the cliffs about 30km north of where I live, the village of Eletot (already talked about in my OP about the Atlantikwal buildings https://www.coxengineforum.com/t11719-atlantikwall-buildings ) still has a landing strip of WW2. In the village an airport was inaugurated 29 August 1937. IAs can be imagined, this was only a grass field, just north of the village. Some pictures taken that day:

All pictures can be found here: https://www.fecamp-festif.com/aero-club-linauguration-du-terrain-deletot.php#1123

Then the Germans arrived on 10 June 1940 and built a concrete strip, still there today. 480 fighters were stationed there in 1940, prepared for landings on the English coast. Most of these planes were lateron used for Operation Barbarossa, the invasion of the USSR in june 1941. The strip is now part of the hiking trail along the cost. When I was there, I looked for signs in the concrete, maybe a date someone scribed with his finger, but could not find anything. I took a few pics: